Netanyahu Says Iran's Entire Nuclear Program Must Go

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, 24 April 2025. EPA/MAYA ALLERUZZO
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, 24 April 2025. EPA/MAYA ALLERUZZO
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Netanyahu Says Iran's Entire Nuclear Program Must Go

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, 24 April 2025. EPA/MAYA ALLERUZZO
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, 24 April 2025. EPA/MAYA ALLERUZZO

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated calls for Iran's entire nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled, as Washington and Tehran engage in talks for a nuclear accord.

The United States and Iran have so far held three rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Oman, aimed at sealing a deal that would block Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but also lift crippling economic sanctions imposed by Washington.
After talks in Rome earlier this month, Oman said that the US and Iran were pursuing an accord that would see Tehran "completely free" of nuclear weapons and sanctions but "maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy."
Netanyahu said the only "good deal" would be one that removed "all of the infrastructure" akin to the 2003 agreement that Libya made with the West that saw it give up its nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs.
Israeli officials have long vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, an assertion Netanyahu repeated.
Israel has not ruled out attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Netanyahu that the US was for now unwilling to support such an operation, Reuters reported on April 19, citing an Israeli official and two other sources familiar with the matter.
Netanyahu, speaking late on Sunday in Jerusalem, said that he had told Trump that any nuclear agreement reached with Iran should also prevent Tehran from developing ballistic missile.
An Iranian official told Reuters this month that Tehran saw its missile program as the main sticking point in US talks.
Iran in April 2024 and again in October 2024 attacked Israel with drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles after Israel had killed Iranian generals and officials from Iranian proxies.
"We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at a conference organized by the Jewish News Syndicate, referring to a conversation he had with Trump.



Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
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Trump Says it Might Be Better to Let Ukraine and Russia 'Fight for a While'

05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa
05 June 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump (R) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa Pool/dpa

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.

In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in early 2022 — to a fight between two young children who hated each other.

“Sometimes you’re better off letting them a fight for a while and then pulling them apart," Trump said. He added that he had relayed that analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their phone conversation on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

Asked about Trump's comments as the two leaders sat next to each other, Merz stressed that both he and Trump agreed “on this war and how terrible this war is going on,” pointing to the US president as the “key person in the world” who would be able to stop the bloodshed.

But Merz also emphasized that Germany “was on the side of Ukraine” and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians.

“We are trying to get them stronger,” Merz said of Ukraine.

Thursday's meeting marked the first time that the two leaders sat down in person. After exchanging pleasantries — Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the US president's grandfather Friedrich Trump, who immigrated from Germany — the two leaders were to discuss issues such as Ukraine, trade and NATO spending.

Trump and Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a “decent” relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president's first term.

The 69-year-old Merz — who came to office with an extensive business background — is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics.

A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany’s defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called “democratic backsliding," saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions.

But Merz told reporters Thursday morning that if Trump wanted to talk German domestic politics, he was ready to do that but he also stressed Germany holds back when it comes to American domestic politics.